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Support for the 9/11 Memorial

Now that the 9/11 memorial at the former World Trade Center site is open to the public, the federal government should provide financial assistance to help keep it maintained and operating in the years ahead.

The National September 11 Memorial and Museum foundation, which owns the site, estimates that it will cost around $60 million a year to run the complex. The foundation’s officials are worried that to cover the annual operating expense they will have to charge high admission fees to the museum, which are scheduled to open next year.

Senator Daniel Inouye, a Democrat from Hawaii, offers a sound solution. The senator, who has worked for years to support the Pearl Harbor memorial near Honolulu, has introduced a bill in Congress to have the federal government provide one-third of the operating cost, or up to $20 million a year. The bill would also allow the National Park Service to take over the memorial grounds if such a move was approved by the governors of New York and New Jersey.

That transfer may make sense in the future if the Park Service can provide additional financial assistance. The service already manages many memorials, including the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania, where 40 passengers and crew members died on Sept. 11, 2001, when their plane crashed.

In making a plea for Congressional aid for the 9/11 memorial, Senator Inouye restates an important reality: Sept. 11 brought “the most horrific attack on America since the bombing of Pearl Harbor.” As a national memorial, this deserves continuing federal support.

A version of this editorial appears in print on September 29, 2011, on page A26 of the New York edition with the headline: Support for the 9/11 Memorial. Today's Paper|Subscribe